


SUMMER

by orphan_account



Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22521862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Awsten wasn't supposed to be okay with this - falling in love again. But alas, every "supposed to" in his romance life never came to fruition.
Relationships: Awsten Knight/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	SUMMER

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parx/gifts).



> hi aly! MIA is like my favorite thing ever. this is inspired by march pt 3 (I'm pretty sure it's march), when awsten meets caden. I've been waiting to use this oc for a while and this particular scene turned off my writer's block (whoopdee fucking doo!!). your writing is amazing, thank you so much for putting your heart and soul into it <3

To be frank, this was one of the worst days he'd had in a while. The previous night of sleep had been filled with happy memories (or fantasies?) about _her,_ and it was definitely not helping his state of mind at eight in the morning. He kept his head buried in his phone during the Uber to Starbucks, cursing himself for not dropping the old habit even though it had been almost two years ago.

Almost two years ago to the day.

His body was tired, his emotions were haywire, his brain was annoying him. He needed his drink and he needed to leave, preferably as quickly as possible so he could go back home to his guitars and his journal and cry. The back of his nose was already heating up, though he'd walked in only moments ago. His head was starting to ache. _I hate this I wanna leave right fucking now wait shit fuck it's my turn._

He rattled off his usual, putting on a facade of tiredhappy. He was tired but he was _fine._ At least the baristas thought so. That was all that mattered - for the moment.

They knew him well enough that his name was printed _correctly_ on the cup, and not in some weird douchey way like, 'Austin,' or, 'Austen.' It was girl writing. He only knew this because the girl who had his drink ready had the fucking audacity to _wink_ _at him and write her number on the side cool very cool._ He wouldn't text. He wouldn't even look into it. He was done.

And now the Uber was late - yes, lovely. Today was off to a _great_ start. 

He felt a drop hit his forehead. Then another, until it was drizzling onto his hoodie that was _definitely_ not waterproof. "Fuck," he muttered aloud, eyes scrambling to find the nearest awning while he waited for his driver. 

And then someone called to him from a few feet away. At least, he thought someone did. "Hey, there's cover under here!" When he turned around, there was a girl staring up at him, concerned. He could see the worry, the _oh shit he's gonna catch a cold_ gaze. He didn't wanna have to stand the whole time, but she was beneath _something_ to keep her dry, so he joined her.

He didn't even notice her staring as he pulled out his phone to check his good morning hate texts from Elijah. He didn't notice how she fidgeted beside him as he scrolled through Twitter. He only remembered glancing up twice to see if the Uber had arrived. _Where was it?_

"I..." he heard the voice, the _girl,_ stammer, "I just wanted to say hi." He turned to face her. "I just really really love your music," she finished, blushing into her lap, and it was only then that Awsten noticed she wasn't standing at all. She was strapped into a wheelchair, her hands folded at her waist. Awsten wasn't sure she could even move them. But he was drawn out of that at the mention of the band because _wait a fucking minute she isn't calling me names or asking for a picture or being...like the rest of them._ He smiled at her, genuinely, because what she said awoke something resembling happiness.

"Thank you," he said back, and her eyes immediately lit up like he'd hung the moon itself just for her. _I'm not_ that _special,_ he wanted to say, but he didn't. She continued, "Like, I dunno, it helped me through a really dark time." She looked away, and he could see her eyes start to water. _Ah shit,_ he thought. _Please don't cry._ He paid attention to her words as she spoke longer, and he caught phrases that he'd heard before from other, just-as-nice fans that would run into him at Starbucks or in the fucking street of all places. A lot of things along the lines of how his music had, 'saved her life,' or whatever else was synonymous with that.

"And...I hope you don't mind if I'm blunt," she interrupted herself. "Go ahead," he supplied. _Wonder where the Uber went?_

But soon the Uber would be the least of his problems.

"I really hope you find someone," she said, starting to choke up again. Awsten felt his own breath catch. No one had ever talked about this with him in person...not like this. He'd heard plenty of slander about _her,_ both online and in real life. He'd heard dating proposals even, from girls who were definitely at _least_ a decade younger than him. But he'd never heard of this, of someone who was really actually hoping for something _good for him_ in his life. "And," she blinked heavily as she said this, "I hope they treat you better. You really deserve to have something good."

The rain had stopped but the hot feeling behind his eyes had returned. He needed to sit. He planted himself on the sidewalk by her chair, trying to steady his racing heart. _This is new. I don't know if I like this. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Probably a good thing. She cares. She_ cares. _Fuck!_

"Do you mean that?" He didn't mean for that to slip out, but it did. No takebacks. Damn. "Like, really?" She nodded, taking a swipe at her eyes with a clawed hand. He felt his own eyes prick. There was no way of reversing this. "Thank you," he barely whispered. 

The Uber still hadn't shown up. 

"I'm Summer," she said after a long while. Awsten looked up at her. "Awste- wait, shit, you knew that." She giggled, looking away from him. He couldn't help but notice how pretty her eyes were. 

The conversation picked up again, and Awsten learned many things about her - how she was 'born with it' ("Before you ask, it wasn't a car accident."), how her favorite color was magenta, how she had two large dogs and a turtle, how her nose wrinkled when she was confused, how her eyes got all squinty when she was excited. After almost an hour of waiting for a very late Uber, he realized he didn't want to go. Not yet. He didn't just meet a fan, he made a new _friend,_ and that hadn't happened for him in a very long time. He found himself wracking his brain for excuses to stay, when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out with a shaking hand, answering the caller.

"Hey mom."

...

"No, it's fine, I'll come find--"

...

"Fine. Give me a sec."

She hung up, pocketing her phone. Awsten figured it was now or never. _What the fuck am I doing?_

_Oh well, I don't know._

"S-Summer?" he stammered, hands fidgeting to grab out his own phone. "Give me your number. Please." He handed her his phone carefully, and she took it with shock on her face. With shaking fingers, she typed ten digits into a "new contact" slot. She handed him back his phone, almost dropping it; but he didn't care because someone he genuinely wanted to talk to again and who he thought was really _really_ pretty had given him her number.

"I might try to come to a show sometime, who knows," she said, winking before saying goodbye and rolling towards a van that had pulled up only seconds ago. And seconds later, his staring at Summer leaving was interrupted by the sound of a horn honking.

It was his Uber. It had been across the street the entire time probably, and Awsten cursed himself for not watching better. He spewed out hasty apologies to the driver, who reassured him it wasn't an enormous deal. This time, on the way back to his apartment, he didn't don his hood or keep his head down. Everywhere out the window he looked through, he could see Summer. Summer in the sky, Summer in the faces of the bustling Los Angeles natives, Summer in the bright colors of the neon restaurant signs.

 _You're not supposed to be_ feeling this way _for her you fuck._ And at once the anxiety was back again. After her...no, he wasn't supposed to think about her anymore.

He felt the pull at him between something old and someone new. It lingered in his brain back to his apartment, soaked into his thoughts whilst he wrote, and it stayed with him in the shower and his bed while he tried (and failed) to sleep.

_So I must be dead._

_So I must be_ dead.

She'd opened the coffin and he hadn't even realized until it was already too late. He smiled to himself, the heavy feeling in his chest lifting. Maybe it wasn't time to start anything. Maybe it was simply time for him to resuscitate. Maybe living wouldn't be so bad.

Turning over a new leaf was terrifying. Ice cold. But in the end, spring would come. Then summer - his summer, lovely and different and wonderful summer - would follow.

_fin._


End file.
